‘Transformers 4’ Filming Plans Dampened By Storms

FAIRFIELD TWP. (WWJ/AP) – Storms have dampened plans by the makers of the next installment of the “Transformers” movie franchise to shoot an action sequence along a wheat field-lined stretch of Michigan state highway near Adrian.

Michigan 52 in Lenawee County’s Fairfield Township was to host shooting for “Transformers 4” starting earlier this week. Now, crews might start filming Friday, but they’ll have to wrap up by Saturday as previously expected.

Scott Merillat, managing director of the Lenawee County Road Commission, told the Daily Telegram of Adrian that filming must be finished by Saturday because that’s when a permit to close a two-mile stretch of M-52 expires. The road has been closed between Weston and Mulberry roads since Tuesday.

In March, the Michigan Film Office said the state approved an incentive of $20 million on $81,933,992 of projected in-state spending for “Transformers 4.” The movie, directed by Michael Bay and produced by Steven Spielberg, is set for release on June 27, 2014.

This is the third Transformers movie to use Michigan as a backdrop.

The movie plot will pick up following the conclusion of “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” when the Autobots and Decepticons have all but vanished from the face of the planet. An ancient, powerful Transformer menace sets Earth in his cross-hairs and “an epic adventure and battle between good and evil, freedom and enslavement ensues.”